Don't Leave Me
by pinkpen23
Summary: Semi-AU/Semi-Missing Moment.  Hermione follows Ron out of the tent after he runs out and tries to convince him to stay.  Review Please!


_**A/N: I'm not sure how I feel about this. I like the idea of it more than I like how it actually turned out.**_

Hermione looked at Harry, whose face was expressionless, to where Ron had just left the tent. Without thinking twice, she ran after Ron.

"Ron!" she screamed.

"What?" Ron screamed back. "I thought you were staying with your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Hermione exclaimed, beginning to sob as she noticed Ron's expression did not change.

"Don't lie to protect my feeling, Hermione," Ron snapped. "I've seen the way you two are around each other."

"Well, are you blind or have you seen the way I am with you?" Hermione snapped back, giving more of herself away than she wanted to.

Ron did not answer, and, through her anger, Hermione felt satisfied that she had been able to render Ron speechless.

"See Ron," Hermione said, bringing her voice down to a more calm tone, "Nothing's going on between Harry and me. He's not the…"

"The what?" Ron asked, his face changing from anger to hesitant curiosity.

Hermione looked down at her feet and began to cry softly. "He's not the one I'm in love with."

"What?" Ron asked.

"You heard me!" she exclaimed, her sadness turning into anger. "I'm in love with you! Are you happy now that I've gone and completely embarrassed myself?"

"Embarrassed yourself?" Ron said.

"Yes!" Hermione spat angrily. "Because I just put all my feelings out on the line for someone who's been screwing with my heart since day one!"

"What—what do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Don't play dumb, Ron! Fourth year? The Yule Ball? Last year with Lavender? You knew I cared about you, and you just watched as I silently hurt."

"Hold up, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. "I had _no idea_ that you liked me during fourth year. I thought you fancied that block-head Krum!"

"Fine," Hermione said, "But don't tell me that you didn't know I liked you last year! I made it obvious, Ron! I could see that you were doing nothing about it, so I tried to initiate some things. Give you a little confidence, you know? Remember how I invited you to Slughorn's party? Or did all that snogging with Lavender erase that from your mind?"

Ron, who was now soaked from the rain that was pouring outside, answered, "Hermione, I'm sorry about Lavender! You know that I am! I did everything I could to show you that."

Hermione, who was also drenched, sighed. "Ron, please just come back into the tent."

"No!" Ron exclaimed, his anger resurfacing. "I'm not going back in there!"

"But you can't just _leave_," Hermione said.

"I could leave with you," Ron told her. "C'mon Hermione! I could make it safe for you!"

"How?" Hermione asked, knowing fully well that he could not give her an acceptable answer.

"I don't know," Ron replied, "But I'd find a way, Hermione, because I love you too."

As good as it felt to hear Ron finally say those words out loud, Hermione knew that they weren't enough to make her go with him. Why did he have to say them now? In the middle of all this? Why did he have to put her in this position to tell him that she couldn't leave?

"I—I can't leave him, Ron," Hermione said, beginning to cry again. "He needs me—needs us!"

"No, he can do without me," Ron said, a sudden look of cold resolve on his face.

"You know that's not true," Hermione said.

"It is true, Hermione," Ron told her. "Don't try to make me feel like I'm important."

"I'm not _trying_! It's true! You _are_ important!"

"Hermione, I'm leaving. You can come or you can stay."

"Ron, you know I have to stay," Hermione answered, crying.

"Okay," Ron answered coldly. "Good bye."

"Ron, don't you dare!" Hermione said, screaming and sobbing at the same time as Ron continued walking past the barrier of the protective spells. "Don't you dare leave me! I told you I loved you and you said you loved me! Doesn't that mean anything?"

Ron, however, kept walking and did not turn around. Soon, he was out of the safety of Hermione's enchantments, and Hermione knew that he couldn't see or hear her anymore. Hermione watched as he Disapparated.

As he did so, she began to scream. "How could you do that? How could you just be so selfish and leave? That's not the Ron I know! How—how could you?"

She kept screaming until her voice was hoarse. Then, miserably, she returned to the tent to find Harry in the same place he had been when she left. He watched as she collapsed in a chair and began to sob.

**_A/N: REVIEW PLEASE!_**


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